Students from the Vienna International School of Earth and Space Sciences (VISESS) set up the ‘Big Picture Event’ in May 2024 and focussed on how to bring creativity into research. In this blog article, they talk about how it went.
When conducting scientific research, there are many ways to go about it – but are there ways that can combine our academic interests with other passions or hobbies? What benefits can we gain from this as researchers? Can this also influence us on a more personal level? These were the questions that we set out to answer during our Big Picture Event on 28 May 2024, at the Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy (FGGA). It was organized by us, a team made up of students from the Vienna International School of Earth and Space Sciences (VISESS): Kamila (Earth branch), Paula (Earth branch), Paulina (Earth branch), Qilei (Anthroposphere branch), and Stefanie (Cosmos branch). Our goal for this event was to inspire students and senior researchers alike, to think beyond conventional boundaries and to bring even more joy into our research.
– Anonymous Feedback
How it started…
Our original idea came about after discussing the subject of how to be our most authentic self in academia. We discussed what that means as a concept, and how to convey this both in our research and in how we present ourselves. Eventually, this led us to think about creativity and its importance in both the work that we do and in our mental health. We proposed our event during the interdisciplinary Big Picture Seminars at VISESS and soon started to think of how to make this a hands-on event.
The main motivation was to bring a renewed sense of joy into the workflow of scientists. We were aware of how scientific research, particularly in highly rigorous and specialized fields such as geosciences, is often guided by established methodologies, and how easy it is to lose sight of the wonders of the various fields that we study. So, we were sure that we needed to incorporate something creative into the process. Additionally, this topic has not been discussed at the FGGA before, which definitely drove us and made us curious to dive into it. After some initial research, we also found that we wanted to draw attention to some of the incredible artists who combine art and science and to give them a floor to talk about things they love. And last but not least – just to have fun!
… how it went!
The event unfolded in three distinct segments: a video presentation “Cases in Creativity”, presentations by two highly motivating speakers, and an interactive creative workshop. We received 43 registrations from interested individuals, of which 29 participated in the workshop. Our attendees included undergraduate students, PhD candidates, PostDocs, and professors, hailing from various academic departments such as the Department of Astrophysics, Department of Geography and Regional Research, Department of Palaeontology, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, the Vienna Biocenter, Department of Geology, and the Department of Lithospheric Research. Registrations poured in from several doctoral schools, including the Vienna Doctoral School in Chemistry, the Vienna International School of Earth and Space Sciences, the Doctoral School in Education, and the Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution. Additionally, we had online participants joining from the University of Padova and Heriot-Watt University.
We were keen to showcase scientists who blend their passion for art with their research, so we invited them to participate in our event. Their contributions, demonstrating how creativity is woven into their scientific endeavors, have been compiled into a full-length video montage available below. Due to time constraints, a shortened version was presented at the Big Picture Event. We are immensely thankful for each contribution and delighted to highlight the remarkable work from around the globe. The video features eight professionals, each at varying stages of their careers, expertise, and representing diverse fields:
- Nicole Archer, a soil hydrologist at the British Geological Survey (BGS) and an environmental artist
- Sofía Barragán-Montilla, an early-career researcher
- Francesca Beard, a writer and poet (Hot Poets)
- Olaya Dorado, an early-career researcher
- Anna Hicks, a volcanologist at the BGS
- Hazel Napier, a team leader at the BGS
- Nia Schamuells, a cartoonist and scientific content creator
- Phoebe Sleath, an early-career researcher
You can watch a full 30-minute and shorter 10-minutes version of the video montage “Cases in Creativity” here.
Speakers
The multifaceted impact and importance of arts – Matthew Pelowski
Due to copyright reasons we can’t publish Matthew’s presentation
Matthew Pelowski is an Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Neuroaesthetics in the Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, with a dual affiliation in the Vienna Cognitive Science Hub and Head of the ARTIS Lab (Art Research on Transformation of Individuals and Society).
We initially contacted Matthew based on his background in psychology and reached out to him with the naive question of whether he could give a presentation explaining the effect art has on our brain. “I died a little bit inside when you asked me that”, was his response. He went on to explain that this question, while interesting by itself, has a very simple and boring answer: “Looking at art activates the part of our brain that pleases us and makes us happy”.
Matthew continued to explain and give examples of artworks that have triggered strong emotions and clarified that, in his opinion, the important question is not why our brain reacts this way but rather how it reacts to art, and what we do with this reaction – it can move us, make us angry, make us curious. And curiosity is a vital part of research.
Another important aspect is also the interdisciplinarity that comes from the combination of art and science – explaining concepts and ideas to people from other fields requires us to think more deeply about our research and to employ a different perspective from the one we use on a daily basis to discuss results in our highly specialized research groups.
Creativity in research through art-science integration – Ulrike Kuchner
An abridged version of Ulrike’s presentation is available here.
Ulrike Kuchner is a UK-based artist, astrophysicist, curator, and interdisciplinary researcher. She facilitates and researches ArtScience collaborations, co-founded the ARTlab Nottingham for artists-in-residence integrated in scientific research and co-coordinates the international transdisciplinary SEADS (Space Ecologies Art and Design) collective that is known for its community-based and boundary-pushing artworks. She studied Astronomy at the University of Vienna, as well as Fine Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and was highly recommended to us as an invited speaker on this topic from many perspectives.
During her presentation, Ulrike explained how she worked on two theses at the same time – one in arts and one in astrophysics, and how she used the same data for both. That is the beauty of scientific data – it contains so much more once we look beyond the strict conventions. Even now, Ulrike’s art practice uses data from her scientific research (galaxy formation and evolution) to explore topics of models, technology and meaning-making, challenging the notion of objective truths and questions the freedom of art and science in uncertain times.
“During my interview with the University of Applied Arts I was asked if I would give up astronomy for arts and I said ‘no’. And I thought surely that was it but I was accepted into the program”, Ulrike reminisced and encouraged us all to pursue our passions and to build up interdisciplinary conversations, discussing topics that, in one way or another, influence us all. One aspect of Ulrike’s presentation in particular led to further discussions, namely the topic of shared leadership and doing away with academic hierarchy, a concept that was met with both interest and approval from many in the audience.
Creativity workshop – Daniela Brill Estrada
Daniela’s presentation is available on the following link.
Daniela Brill Estrada (artist and researcher from Bogotá, living and working in Vienna, current work focused on the origin of life research, astrobiology, and the physics of life) was recommended to us by Ulrike to facilitate the hands-on part of the Big Picture Event, the interactive workshop on creativity in research.
In the first twenty minutes, Daniela started with a brief introduction to ease the participants into the creative process and to guide them in finding an outlet to channel and portray their research interest and knowledge. She invited us to go back in time with her, to a time where “people observed and painted the ocean on cave walls to understand the tide. What is this, if not research?” She highlighted how the West has put categories on what constitutes as science and as art, building barriers that are social constructs from colonial times and had not been there before.
To encourage the workshop participants to start thinking about their research in a more abstract manner, Daniela asked everyone to note five words that capture the concepts woven into their research and to associate these words with one sense (touch, smell, sight, noise, taste) each. She also helped us to understand that how we feel and perceive the world (aesthetics) is more than just these five senses, that we can also apply scale, rhythm and gravity to understand our data. The concepts and their accompanying sense were then interpreted with the provided materials (clay, painting, poetry). Some of the resulting artworks can be seen in the slideshow below.
Two weeks later, the artworks were also shown in an exhibition at the Talks & BBQ 2024: Meet the “Faculty for Exploration”.
What did we take away from this activity?
Many concepts and ideas were brought up in the course of this event, many of them we already highlighted above, such as the importance of interdisciplinary collaborations, allowing us to find commonalities in our research despite the variety of fields, and a reminder to look at the bigger picture of how our research contributes to society and what questions it answers. Based on the feedback we received from the participants of the event (see below) as well as on our own experience during the organization – from discussions with everyone who has kindly contributed to this event to the preparation session for the workshop – it is also fair to say that we gained renewed motivation in our research, by using the possibility of taking a step away from the stress of academia and reminding us of why we were interested in our respective research topics in the first place and by establishing a connection with the nature studies of people from thousands of years ago.
Feedback from the participants and outcomes
We were happy to receive different types of feedback and thoughtful questions, for instance, on artificial intelligence. More feedback can be seen in the slideshow below.
As organizers, we are very happy with how the event turned out and highlight several important outcomes:
- Enhanced Engagement: The level of participation and enthusiasm from the attendees exceeded our expectations. The discussion session and the creativity workshop were particularly well-received, with many participants expressing that these activities provided them with new perspectives and tools to approach their research.
- Positive Feedback: Feedback from the attendees highlighted the value of the interdisciplinary approach. Many participants appreciated the opportunity to learn from experts in different fields and felt inspired to apply similar creative methodologies in their work.
- Innovative Thinking: We observed a noticeable shift in the mindset of participants towards more innovative and creative thinking during the course of the workshop. The event successfully demonstrated that creativity is not only applicable but essential in scientific research, leading to a renewed motivation among the attendees to explore unconventional approaches. Additionally, we noticed a shift in the atmosphere during the explanations of everyone’s artworks, as people became more confident in their research and their expression of it.
- Interdisciplinary exchange: Due to the wide variety of academic fields represented during the workshop, there was active exchange of knowledge and discussions of the art pieces (and hence the research topics) between the participants – from law to astrophysics.
- Future Initiatives: The success of this event has sparked interest in organizing similar future initiatives.
About the Organisers & Authors
Picture Credits
Speaker Portraits:
Matthew Pelowski’s personal photo archives
Ulrike Kuchner’s personal photo archives
Daniela Brill Estrada’s personal photo archives
Workshop photos and graphics: Kamila Faizieva, Paula Granero Ordoñez, Paulina Mejías Osorio, Qilei Huang, and Stefanie Reiter
